Introduction: Understanding the Sin Nature and How to Live for God
This study begins with a question many believers have never been clearly taught to answer: not merely, “Should I live for God?” but, “How do I live for God?”
Many believers sincerely love the Lord and know that they are supposed to follow Him, yet they do not understand the biblical foundation for their daily walk.
Consequently, they may attempt to live for God by human effort, willpower, religious rules, or simply “trying harder.” Prayer, fasting, obedience, and other scriptural practices have their proper place, but none of them can replace the foundation God provided through Jesus Christ and His Finished Work on The Cross.
To understand the sin nature, we must return to the beginning.
God did not create man sinful. Everything God made was good:
“And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good.”—Genesis 1:31
God is perfect, Holy, Righteous, and without iniquity:
“He is the Rock, his work is perfect: for all his ways are judgment: a God of truth and without iniquity, just and right is he.”—Deuteronomy 32:4
Sin entered the world through Adam’s disobedience, as recorded in Genesis 3. Paul explains its effect upon the human race:
“Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned.”—Romans 5:12
Because sin entered the world, all men have come short of God’s glory:
“For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God.”—Romans 3:23
The doctrine of the sin nature is clearly taught in the Bible. Paul describes both its presence and its operation within man. He identifies it as “sin that dwelleth in me” (Romans 7:17, 20), “the body of sin” (Romans 6:6), sin seeking to “reign” in the mortal body (Romans 6:12), and the flesh opposing the Spirit (Galatians 5:16–17).
Therefore, the term “sin nature” describes a biblical reality: the principle and power of sin that entered the human race through Adam and continues to operate within fallen man. Throughout this study, we will examine this doctrine in its complete scriptural context so that our understanding comes directly from the Word of God.
Genesis reveals where sin entered the human family. Romans explains its far-reaching consequences and presents God’s answer through Jesus Christ. We will examine Adam’s fall, Cain and Abel, and the continuing struggle between approaching God according to His revealed way and attempting to approach Him through man’s own efforts. Hebrews 11:4 tells us that Abel offered his sacrifice “by faith.” Jesus later declared:
“I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.”—John 14:6
Man cannot save himself, justify himself, or overcome the power of sin through his own strength. God’s answer is not the rehabilitation of the old life but new life in Christ:
“Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.”—2 Corinthians 5:17
This brings us to justification, one of the most important foundations of the Christian life. Justification is not something man earns through works, ordinances, law-keeping, or personal merit. The sinner is justified freely by God’s grace through the redemption provided by Jesus Christ:
“Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood.”—Romans 3:24–25
Paul then states:
“Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.”—Romans 5:1
Justification concerns the believer’s standing before God. Through faith in Jesus Christ and His finished work, the believing sinner is forgiven, declared righteous, and given peace with God. This settled peace must be distinguished from the believer’s daily experience of the peace of God, which concerns his continuing walk, trust, and spiritual growth.
Sanctification must also be distinguished from justification. Justification concerns the believer’s righteous standing before God; sanctification concerns his being set apart unto God and his continuing walk with the Lord. Confusing these truths leaves believers trying to accomplish through self-effort what only the Holy Spirit can accomplish in a life resting upon Christ.
Romans 6 teaches that the believer’s “old man” was crucified with Christ so that “the body of sin might be destroyed,” and that the believer should no longer serve sin (Romans 6:6).
The Greek word translated “destroyed” must be studied carefully. It does not necessarily mean annihilated or removed from existence; it carries the sense of being rendered ineffective or deprived of ruling power. This is why Paul also commands the believer to reckon himself “dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord” (Romans 6:11).
The presence of temptation or inward conflict does not mean that Christ’s work failed. Neither does salvation give the believer an independent power of will by which he can defeat sin without continual dependence upon God. Romans 7 records the misery of attempting to perform what is right without finding the power to accomplish it.
Romans 8 then directs us to the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus. Galatians 5:16 states, “This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh.”
This is why taking up the cross daily is crucial. Jesus said:
“If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me.”—Luke 9:23
Christ’s atoning work is finished and will never be repeated. Taking up the cross daily does not mean that Jesus must be crucified again. It means that the believer must continually deny self as the source of his salvation, righteousness, direction, and spiritual power, and follow Jesus in daily dependence upon Him. The sin nature resists this denial of self because self seeks to rule, direct, and depend upon its own strength.
The believer is not left to accomplish this alone. The Holy Spirit is the true Teacher:
“But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.”—John 14:26
Jesus also called Him “the Spirit of truth” and said that He would guide His followers into all truth (John 16:13). The Holy Spirit will never teach anything contrary to the written Word of God. Therefore, following the Holy Spirit and searching the Scriptures must never be separated.
We must also remember that no human teacher gets everything right. No preacher, commentator, writer, or Bible student possesses perfect understanding. Paul acknowledged, “For we know in part, and we prophesy in part” (1 Corinthians 13:9). Commentaries, lexicons, word studies, and the writings of respected teachers may help us, but they are not the final authority. Every teaching must be examined by Scripture. The Bereans “searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so”
(Acts 17:11), and Paul instructed believers:
“Prove all things; hold fast that which is good.”—1 Thessalonians 5:21
For that reason, every major conclusion presented in this study will be supported by Scripture. We will examine the King James Version, the relevant Hebrew and Koine Greek words, their grammatical usage, and their immediate and broader biblical contexts.
We will distinguish between what Scripture states directly, what the original-language text establishes, and what represents a commentator’s interpretation. Readers will be given the references so they can search the Scriptures and examine these matters for themselves.
Moving forward, we will study the entrance of sin in Genesis; Adam’s effect upon the human race; Cain and Abel; justification by faith; peace with God; access into grace; the old man and the body of sin; the new creation; the conflict described in Romans 7; life in the Spirit in Romans 8; the flesh and the Spirit in Galatians 5; the believer’s participation in the divine nature; the work of the Holy Spirit; the place of the Cross in sanctification; and the way tribulation produces endurance, tested character, and hope. We will also examine how God’s love was demonstrated through Jesus Christ and how that love is shed abroad in the believer’s heart by the Holy Ghost.
The purpose of this study is not merely to define the sin nature. It is to understand from Scripture how a man comes to God, how he is justified through faith in what Jesus accomplished at Calvary, and how he is to live for God each day. The believer begins at the Cross, stands justified through the Cross, and must take up his cross daily as he follows Jesus under the teaching and direction of the Holy Spirit.
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